Separating as cohabitants: what about the home in Flanders?
People who live together without marrying often assume that the same rules apply in a break-up as in a divorce. That is only partly true. Here you read what applies to legal and de facto cohabitants, and how you decide on the home together.
If you were legally cohabiting, you decide on the family home together until the end of the legal cohabitation; de facto cohabitants do not have that protection (notaris.be, checked 28 October 2026). If one of you takes over the home, former legal cohabitants in Flanders pay 1 % division duty if they were legally cohabiting for at least 1 year and divide within 3 years after the end, de facto cohabitants 2.5 % (Vlaamse Belastingdienst). To take over the loan you need the bank's agreement.
What is your home worth?
First see what your home is worth. Then start preparing early and without obligation: free, for as long as you like.
Legally or de facto cohabiting: what is the difference when you separate?
Legal cohabitation starts with a declaration at the municipality. As long as it runs, you decide together on the family home, even if only one of you is owner (notaris.be). Neither of you can then simply sell the home alone.
De facto cohabitation requires no formalities, and each of you can end it at any moment. So there is no legal protection either when living together stops (notaris.be). Whoever is in the deed is owner and decides.
You end a legal cohabitation at the municipality: together with a joint declaration, or alone with a written declaration. In the latter case the other partner is notified within eight days via a bailiff, at the expense of whoever makes the declaration (notaris.be). That date counts for the division duty, see further on.
Part 2
Who owns the home, and for which share?
Look at the purchase deed first. If you bought together, you are owners in joint ownership, according to the shares in the deed, for example half each. As long as the home is undivided, neither of you can claim that a part of it belongs to them alone (notaris.be).
If the home is in the name of one of you, that person is sole owner. The other partner has no share in the home, not even after years of living together. If that partner helped pay off the loan or paid for a renovation, discuss with a notary or lawyer whether you can claim something back, and keep the proof of what you paid.
If one of you put more own money into the home than the shares say, for example for a renovation, you can deviate from an equal division of the proceeds in a sale (notaris.be).
If you have a cohabitation agreement, read it first: it can set out who owns what and what happens in a break-up. Legal cohabitants are required to have such an agreement drawn up by a notary (notaris.be, 2019).
Part 3
Selling, taking over or keeping together: which choices do you have?
Which choice fits depends on what each of you wants and can carry. A free valuation based on the address, such as Hoobler's, gives you both the same first figure to talk about; it is not an official valuation.
You have these options (notaris.be):
Selling together: the net proceeds, after repaying the loan and the costs, are divided according to your shares. You can sell yourselves, with a realtor or online via Biddit, the public sale led by a notary.
Taking over: one of you buys out the other's share. The value is first determined objectively, then the buyout sum follows on the basis of the market value and your shares. Whoever takes over needs the bank's agreement for the loan.
Staying owners together: that requires clear agreements on costs and use. An agreement to remain in joint ownership lasts at most 5 years (notaris.be).
Letting temporarily: if the market is not favourable for a while, letting can be a solution, with clear agreements on the income and the maintenance.
Part 4
How much division duty do you pay on a takeover?
On a takeover you pay division duty on the total current value of the home, not only on the share you take over (notaris.be, April 2025). The rate depends on your status:
Former legal cohabitants: 1 %, if on the day of termination you had been legally cohabiting without interruption for at least one year and the division takes place within three years after that termination (Vlaamse Belastingdienst, position 15172, March 2026).
De facto cohabitants: 2.5 %, however long you lived together (notaris.be, April 2025).
If you sell together to a third party, you pay no division duty: the buyer pays registration duty on the purchase.
Part 5
How do you calculate a takeover?
A simplified example with 2026 values: you bought together, half each. The home is worth € 320,000 and € 140,000 is still outstanding on the loan. Partner A takes over. The fee and the costs of the notary and the bank come on top; ask them for an estimate.
Net value: € 320,000 minus € 140,000 is € 180,000.
Buyout sum for partner B: half of the net value, or € 90,000.
Loan: partner A takes over the full € 140,000 alone, if the bank agrees.
Division duty if you were legally cohabiting and meet the conditions: 1 % of € 320,000, or € 3,200.
Division duty if you were de facto cohabiting: 2.5 % of € 320,000, or € 8,000.
Part 6
What if your ex does not want to cooperate?
Nobody can be forced to remain co-owner. If you cannot work it out, you can ask the court for the division, without a reason and without a limitation period (notaris.be).
If you were legally cohabiting, the family court can take provisional measures for the period after the end of the cohabitation, for example on the residence of the ex-partners and the use of certain assets. Since 17 August 2020 those measures are no longer automatically limited to one year: the family judge determines how long they apply (notaris.be, September 2020).
De facto cohabitants do not have that arrangement. If only one of you is owner, the law offers the other partner no protection to continue living there (notaris.be). Make reasonable agreements together on a departure date, certainly if there are children.
A conversation with help often works better than proceedings. A notary who is a mediator can guide you in agreements on the home, the division of the assets and the care for the children (notaris.be).
Part 7
What about the loan, the lease, the reduced rate and the renovation obligation?
The loan continues as you signed it together. If one of you takes over the home, the bank has to agree that the departing partner steps out of the loan (notaris.be). Check that agreement before you fix the buyout sum.
If you bought at the reduced rate for the sole owner-occupied home, you do not have to keep living together: the rate can be kept if one partner takes over the other's share and remains registered there as the only one (Vlaamse Belastingdienst).
The renovation obligation for homes with label E or F does not apply at the end of a cohabitation between existing co-owners if whoever takes over keeps their main residence there (Vlaamse overheid, the Flemish government). If a renovation obligation was already running, it continues to apply.
If the partner who leaves wants to buy a new home at 2 %, they may not be full and sole owner of another home, or they commit to selling it within 2 years (Vlaamse Belastingdienst). If you are still co-owner of your former home, have your notary check what that means for you.
Were you renting? Legal cohabitants are both considered tenants, even if only one of you signed. You can terminate the lease or transfer it to one of you; the rental deposit is then released and paid again by whoever stays (notaris.be).
Frequently asked questions
Answered briefly.
What happens to the house when cohabitants separate?
That depends on who is owner. If you bought together, you sell together, one of you takes over the other's share, or you remain owners together for the time being (notaris.be). If the home is in one name, that partner is sole owner.
The house is in my partner's name: am I entitled to anything if we separate?
Not to the home itself: whoever is in the deed is owner. If you helped pay off the loan or paid for renovations, discuss with a notary or lawyer whether you can claim something back, and keep the proof. A cohabitation agreement can arrange this in advance.
How much division duty do cohabitants pay?
Former legal cohabitants in Flanders pay 1 % if they were legally cohabiting for at least one year and divide within three years after the end; de facto cohabitants pay 2.5 % (Vlaamse Belastingdienst, notaris.be). The rate applies to the total value of the home.
How do you end a legal cohabitation?
With a declaration at the municipality: together, or alone with a written declaration. In case of a unilateral declaration your partner is notified within eight days via a bailiff, at your expense (notaris.be).
Can my ex keep blocking the sale?
Not permanently. Nobody can be forced to remain co-owner: if you cannot work it out, you can ask the court for the division (notaris.be).
Do we need a cohabitation agreement?
It is not compulsory, but it helps. It can set out who owns what, how you share the costs and what happens in a break-up (notaris.be, 2019). Legal cohabitants have it drawn up at a notary.
The selling guide asks nine short questions and shows which approach fits your home: yourself, with help or with a realtor. That way nobody has to convince the other.